JP7482712B2 - Heating equipment management system and computer program - Google Patents

Description

The technology disclosed in this specification relates to a heating equipment management system and a computer program.

Patent Document 1 discloses a heating device equipped with a user presence determination unit (referred to as a human body detection means in Patent Document 1) that determines whether or not a user is present near the heating device. When the user presence determination unit determines that a user is not present near the heating device while the heating device is heating, the heating device of Patent Document 1 stops heating after a certain period of time has elapsed. In this way, the heating device of Patent Document 1 ensures safety when a user is not present near the heating device.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 06-002840

A user of a heating device may intentionally leave the heating device temporarily even while the heating device is heating. In the heating device of Patent Document 1, the heating device stops heating even if such a user intentionally leaves the heating device. In the heating device of Patent Document 1, heating is interrupted even if the user intentionally leaves the heating device temporarily. Therefore, the user must start heating the heating device again after returning to the vicinity of the heating device. In addition, in the heating device of Patent Document 1, if the user is actually present near the heating device, but it is determined that the user is not present near the heating device during heating due to erroneous detection by the user presence determination unit, heating is interrupted. This specification provides a heating device management system that can improve convenience while ensuring safety.

The heating appliance management system disclosed in this specification includes a heating appliance operated by a user, and an external terminal configured to be able to communicate with the heating appliance and having a display unit . The heating appliance includes a heating unit, an appliance-side control unit, an appliance-side transmission unit, an appliance-side reception unit, and a user presence determination unit. The heating unit heats an object to be heated. The appliance-side control unit controls the heating unit. The appliance-side transmission unit transmits information about the heating unit to the external terminal of the user. The appliance-side reception unit receives a response from the user to the information about the heating unit from the external terminal. The user presence determination unit determines whether or not the user is present near the heating appliance. When the user presence determination unit determines that the user is not present near the heating appliance during heating by the heating unit, the appliance-side transmission unit transmits a heating stop determination notification to the external terminal for the user to determine whether or not to stop heating by the heating unit. The external terminal includes a terminal-side reception unit, a display control unit, a determination input unit, a terminal-side display unit, and a terminal-side transmission unit. The terminal side receiving unit receives the heating stop judgment notification from the heating device. The display control unit, when the terminal side receiving unit receives the heating stop judgment notification, displays a heating stop judgment screen on the display unit, and the heating stop judgment screen includes a stop response image that accepts from the user a judgment to stop heating of the heating unit, and a continuation response image that accepts from the user a judgment to continue heating of the heating unit. The judgment input unit, when the display control unit displays the heating stop judgment screen on the display unit, causes the user to input a judgment as to whether or not to stop heating of the heating unit via the heating stop judgment screen displayed on the display unit . The terminal side transmitting unit transmits the judgment of the user as to whether or not to stop heating of the heating unit, inputted to the judgment input unit, to the heating device as a response by the user. The device side control unit stops heating of the heating unit when the response by the user received by the device side receiving unit from the external terminal includes a judgment to stop heating of the heating unit. Furthermore, the device-side control unit continues heating of the heating unit when the response from the user received by the device-side receiving unit from the external terminal includes a determination to continue heating of the heating unit.

In the heating appliance management system according to the above aspect, when the user presence determination unit determines that the user is not present near the heating appliance while the heating unit is heating, a heating stop determination notification is sent to the user's external terminal. In this case, the user inputs a determination as to whether or not to stop heating of the heating unit through the external terminal, and transmits this to the heating appliance as a response from the user. The appliance-side control unit stops or continues heating of the heating appliance in response to the user's response. In this way, the heating appliance management system described above can confirm with the user whether or not to stop heating of the heating appliance when it is determined that the user is not present near the heating appliance that is heating. The heating appliance management system disclosed in this specification can improve convenience while ensuring safety.

In the heating device management system according to one aspect described above, the device-side control unit may stop heating of the heating unit if the device-side receiving unit does not receive a response from the user even after a predetermined threshold time has elapsed after the device-side transmitting unit transmits the heating stop determination notification to the external terminal.

With this configuration, it is possible to prevent heating from continuing if, for example, due to a communication error, the user's external terminal is unable to properly receive the heating stop decision notification, or if the heating device is unable to properly receive the user's response. This ensures safety.

In the heating appliance management system according to the above aspect, the external terminal may further include a terminal location information acquisition unit that acquires terminal location information, which is information related to the current location of the external terminal. The terminal side transmission unit may be capable of transmitting the terminal location information acquired by the terminal location information acquisition unit to the heating appliance. The appliance side receiving unit may be capable of receiving the terminal location information transmitted by the terminal side transmission unit. In this case, the user presence determination unit may determine whether the user is present in the vicinity of the heating appliance by comparing the location of the external terminal included in the terminal location information received by the appliance side receiving unit with a reference location, which is the current location of the heating appliance.

With this configuration, it is possible to compare the current position of the external terminal with a reference position to determine whether or not a user is present near the heating device. This makes it possible to determine whether or not a user is present near the heating device with a relatively simple configuration, without the need to provide a separate device to determine whether or not a user is present near the heating device.

In the heating appliance management system according to the above aspect, the terminal-side transmitting unit may be capable of transmitting terminal identification information, which is information for identifying the external terminal of the user, to the heating appliance. Furthermore, the appliance-side receiving unit may be capable of receiving the terminal identification information transmitted by the terminal-side transmitting unit. The heating appliance may further include an appliance-side storage unit that stores the terminal identification information received from the external terminal and stores the position of the external terminal included in the terminal position information received from the external terminal at the time the terminal identification information is stored in association with the terminal identification information. In this case, the user presence determination unit may set the reference position using the position of the external terminal stored in association with the terminal identification information.

When the heating appliance is installed in the user's house, the terminal identification information of the external terminal owned by the user is stored in the appliance-side storage unit of the heating appliance, thereby facilitating subsequent communication between the heating appliance and the external terminal. At the time when the terminal identification information is stored in the appliance-side storage unit, the external terminal is in the vicinity of the heating appliance installed in the user's house. In addition, when the heating unit starts heating, the user is in the vicinity of the heating appliance. The appliance-side receiving unit may receive the terminal identification information each time the heating unit starts heating. In this way, in the above-mentioned heating appliance management system, at the time when the terminal identification information of the external terminal in the vicinity of the heating appliance is stored, the position of the external terminal included in the terminal position information of the external terminal is stored in association with the terminal identification information. By setting a reference position using the position of the external terminal stored in association with the terminal identification information and comparing it with the current position of the external terminal, it is possible to more easily determine whether or not the user is in the vicinity of the heating appliance by using the process that the user executes on the heating appliance in the vicinity of the heating appliance.

In the heating appliance management system according to the above aspect, the heating appliance may further include an appliance location information acquisition unit that acquires appliance location information, which is information related to the appliance's location. In this case, the user presence determination unit may set the position of the heating appliance included in the appliance location information acquired by the appliance location information acquisition unit as the reference position.

By setting the position of the heating device contained in the device position information as the reference position and comparing it with the current position of the external terminal, it is possible to more accurately determine whether or not a user is present near the heating device.

In the heating appliance management system according to one aspect of the above, the external terminal may be a connection device capable of wirelessly connecting with a plurality of appliances arranged within a predetermined area, and may be configured to be capable of wirelessly connecting with a connection device that is wirelessly connected with the heating appliance. In this case, the user presence determination unit may determine that the user is present in the vicinity of the heating appliance when the heating appliance is wirelessly connected to the connection device and the external terminal is wirelessly connected to the connection device. Furthermore, the user presence determination unit may determine that the user is not present in the vicinity of the heating appliance when the heating appliance is wirelessly connected to the connection device and the external terminal is not wirelessly connected to the connection device.

By configuring in this way, it is possible to accurately determine whether or not the user's external terminal is present within a specified area with a relatively simple device configuration. In other words, it is possible to determine whether or not the user is present near the heating device with a relatively simple device configuration.

In the heating appliance management system described above, the heating appliance may be capable of communicating with a consumption information measuring device that measures consumption information, which is information regarding current energy consumption in the house in which the heating appliance is located. The appliance-side receiving unit may further be capable of receiving the consumption information measured by the consumption information measuring device from the consumption information measuring device. In this case, the user presence determining unit may determine whether the user is present near the heating appliance based on the consumption information received by the appliance-side receiving unit.

With this configuration, it is possible to accurately determine whether or not a user's external terminal is present in the user's home with a relatively simple configuration that uses existing information. In other words, it is possible to determine whether or not a user is present near a heating appliance with a relatively simple configuration that uses existing information.

The computer program according to the above aspect is configured to be able to communicate with a heating device operated by a user , and is used in an external terminal having a display unit . The heating device includes a heating unit that heats an object to be heated, an equipment-side control unit that controls the heating unit, an equipment-side transmitting unit that transmits heating-in-progress information indicating that the heating unit is heating to the external terminal of the user, and an equipment-side receiving unit that receives the user's response to the heating-in-progress information from the external terminal. The computer program causes the external terminal to function as a terminal-side receiving unit, a user presence determining unit, a display control unit, a determination input unit, and a terminal-side transmitting unit. The terminal-side receiving unit receives the heating-in-progress information from the equipment-side transmitting unit. The user presence determining unit determines whether or not the user is present near the heating device. The display control unit displays a heating stop judgment screen on the display unit when the terminal side receiving unit receives the heating in progress information and the user presence judgment unit judges that the user is not present near the heating device, and the heating stop judgment screen includes a stop response image that accepts from the user a judgment to stop heating of the heating unit and a continuation response image that accepts from the user a judgment to continue heating of the heating unit. When the display control unit displays the heating stop judgment screen on the display unit, the judgment input unit has the user input a judgment as to whether or not to stop heating of the heating unit via the heating stop judgment screen displayed on the display unit . The terminal side transmitting unit transmits the user's judgment as to whether or not to stop heating of the heating unit input to the judgment input unit to the heating device as a response by the user. The device-side control unit stops heating of the heating unit when the user's response received by the device-side receiving unit from the external terminal includes a judgment to stop heating of the heating unit, and continues heating of the heating unit when the user's response received by the device-side receiving unit from the external terminal includes a judgment to continue heating of the heating unit.

In the above-mentioned computer program, the external terminal may be capable of communicating with a consumption information measuring device that measures consumption information, which is information regarding current energy consumption in a house in which the heating appliance is installed. The terminal-side receiving unit may further receive the consumption information measured by the consumption information measuring device from the consumption information measuring device. In this case, the user presence determining unit may determine whether the user is present near the heating appliance based on the consumption information received by the terminal-side receiving unit.

Details and further improvements of the technology disclosed in this specification are explained in the "Description of Embodiments" below.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a heating equipment management system according to an embodiment. 1 illustrates a hardware configuration of a heating device management system according to an embodiment. 4 shows a flow of an example of a process executed by a control device of a heating device. 13 shows a flow chart of an example of a user presence determination process using a camera. 13 shows a flow of an example of a user presence determination process using terminal location information. 13 shows a flow chart of an example of a user presence determination process using a connection with a router. 13 shows a flow chart of an example of a user presence determination process using a smart meter. 13 shows an example of a heating stop determination input screen. 13 shows another example of the heating stop determination input screen. 13 illustrates a hardware configuration of a heating equipment management system according to another embodiment. 11 shows a flow diagram of an example of a process executed by a mobile terminal.

(First embodiment)
A heating appliance management system according to an embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overview of a heating appliance management system 2 according to a first embodiment. The heating appliance management system 2 is disposed in a house 40 in which a user 3 resides. The heating appliance management system 2 includes a cooking appliance 10 and a mobile terminal 30. The cooking appliance 10 is a built-in gas-burning stove that is incorporated into a system kitchen. The mobile terminal 30 is typically a smartphone, but may also be a feature phone, a tablet terminal, a laptop computer, or the like.

The cooking device 10 includes a stove 12 arranged on the top surface, a grill 14 arranged on the front surface (i.e., the front side of the paper in FIG. 1), and a control device 20. A gas pipe that connects to a gas supply source (not shown) arranged outside the house 40 is connected to the cooking device 10. Gas is supplied from the gas supply source through the gas pipe to the cooking device 10. As shown in FIG. 1, the stove 12 heats a pot 16 placed on the top. When the stove switch 12s arranged on the right side of the grill 14 is pressed, gas is supplied to the burner of the stove 12, and the gas is ignited by an igniter (not shown), and the heating of the stove 12 begins. By rotating the stove switch 12s left and right, the amount of gas supplied to the burner of the stove 12 is changed. This changes the amount of heat of the stove 12. In addition, when the stove switch 12s is pressed while the stove 12 is heating, the supply of gas to the burner of the stove 12 is stopped. As a result, the stove 12 stops heating.

The burners of the grill 14 heat the food (not shown) placed inside the grill 14. As with the stove 12 described above, when the grill switch 14s located on the left side of the grill 14 is pressed, gas is supplied to the burners of the grill 14, and the gas is ignited by an igniter (not shown), starting the heating of the grill 14. The amount of heat given to the grill 14 can also be changed by rotating the grill switch 14s left or right, and when the grill switch 14s is pressed while the grill 14 is heating, the heating of the grill 14 stops. In the following, the burners of the stove 12 may be referred to simply as "stove 12". Similarly, the burners of the grill 14 may be referred to simply as "grill 14".

A power switch 10s is located in the upper right corner of the front of the cooking device 10 (i.e., the front side of the paper in FIG. 1). The power switch 10s is a switch that starts the cooking device 10, and turning on the power switch 10s makes it possible to ignite the stove 12 and grill 14.

The cooking device 10 houses a control device 20 inside. The control device 20 is a computer that automatically controls the stove 12 and the grill 14, as will be described in detail later with reference to FIG. 2.

A range hood 4 is disposed above the cooking appliance 10. The range hood 4 is a ventilation device that exhausts the air around the cooking appliance 10 to the outside of the house 40 when the stove 12 and grill 14 are heated. A camera 4c is disposed on the underside of the range hood 4. The camera 4c captures images of the area around the cooking appliance 10 from above.

A smart meter 6 is placed on the exterior wall of the house 40. As shown in FIG. 1, a gas pipe is connected to the smart meter 6. The smart meter 6 measures the gas consumption in the house 40 by measuring the flow rate of gas in the gas pipe. Although not shown, the smart meter 6 is also connected to electrical wiring that supplies electricity to the house 40. The smart meter 6 measures the electricity consumption in the house 40 by measuring the power supplied through the electrical wiring. The smart meter 6 measures consumption information, which is information related to the current energy consumption in the house 40. Note that a water pipe that supplies water to the house 40 may be connected to the smart meter 6.

A router 8 is disposed within the house 40. The router 8 can wirelessly communicate with each device (i.e., the cooking appliance 10, the mobile terminal 30, and the smart meter 6) disposed within the house 40 according to Wi-Fi (registered trademark). The router 8 transmits radio waves within a specified range and wirelessly communicates with each device that receives the radio waves. The router 8 cannot wirelessly communicate with devices that move outside the specified range and cannot receive radio waves. In other words, the router 8 can wirelessly connect with multiple devices disposed within a specified area. The smart meter 6 may communicate with the cooking appliance 10 using Bluetooth (registered trademark), or may communicate with the cooking appliance 10 via the Internet.

The router 8 is also connected to the Internet 100. For example, if the mobile terminal 30 moves outside the house 40 and is no longer in reach of the radio waves from the router 8, the router 8 connects the mobile terminal 30 that has moved outside the house 40 to the cooking appliance 10 and smart meter 6 that are located inside the house 40 via the Internet 100. Although not shown in the figure, the cooking appliance 10 and the mobile terminal 30 can communicate directly with each other via a wireless connection using Bluetooth (registered trademark) in addition to a wireless connection via the router 8.

The control configuration of the control device 20 will be described with reference to FIG. 2. The control device 20 includes a hardware processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a RAM (Random Access Memory), and a ROM (Read Only Memory). The control device 20 also includes an external interface that communicates with external devices. The control device 20 is configured, for example, with an ECU (Electronic Control Unit). When the power switch 10s is turned on, the control device 20 starts up.

The control device 20 loads a program stored in advance in ROM into RAM. The control device 20 interprets and executes the program loaded into RAM using the CPU to control each component. As a result, as shown in FIG. 2, the control device 20 is configured as a computer that includes, as software modules, a device-side control unit 20c, a device-side transmitting unit 20s, a device-side receiving unit 20r, a user presence determining unit 20u, a device-side memory unit 20m, and a device position information acquiring unit 20p.

The appliance-side control unit 20c controls the amount of gas supplied to the burner 12 and the grill 14. The appliance-side control unit 20c controls the on/off of an igniter (not shown) that ignites the gas supplied to the burner 12 and the grill 14. The appliance-side control unit 20c starts the supply of gas to the burner 12 and the grill 14, and starts heating the burner 12 and the grill 14 by igniting the gas with the igniter. The appliance-side control unit 20c stops the heating of the burner 12 and the grill 14 by stopping the supply of gas to the burner 12 and the grill 14. The appliance-side control unit 20c changes the amount of heat of the burner 12 and the grill 14 by changing the amount of gas supplied to the burner 12 and the grill 14. In this way, the appliance-side control unit 20c controls the burner 12 and the grill 14.

The device-side transmission unit 20s transmits various information to the mobile terminal 30 of the user 3 via the router 8. For example, the device-side transmission unit 20s transmits a heating stop determination notification to the mobile terminal 30 of the user 3 via the router 8. Here, the heating stop determination notification is a notification for confirming with the user 3 whether to stop or continue heating. The heating stop determination notification is transmitted to the mobile terminal 30 of the user 3 when the user presence determination unit 20u determines that the user 3 is not present near the cooking appliance 10 during heating of either the stove 12 and the grill 14, or both. The process executed to transmit the heating stop determination notification will be described later with reference to FIG. 3 to FIG. 7. Note that, when the user presence determination unit 20u determines that the user 3 is not present near the cooking appliance 10 during heating of either the stove 12 and the grill 14, or both, the device-side transmission unit 20s may transmit the heating stop determination notification to multiple mobile terminals including the mobile terminal 30 of the user 3.

The device side receiving unit 20r receives various information from the mobile terminal 30 and the smart meter 6 via the router 8. The device side receiving unit 20r receives terminal identification information for identifying the mobile terminal 30 from the mobile terminal 30 via the router 8. The terminal identification information includes the address of the mobile terminal 30 used when the device side transmitting unit 20s transmits information to the mobile terminal 30. The device side receiving unit 20r receives terminal position information of the mobile terminal 30 from the mobile terminal 30 via the router 8. The terminal position information includes the current position of the mobile terminal 30 acquired by the terminal position information acquiring unit 30p described later. The device side receiving unit 20r receives a user response described later from the mobile terminal 30 via the router 8. The device side receiving unit 20r receives the current amount of electricity (i.e., the amount of electricity consumed) and gas (i.e., the amount of gas consumed) supplied to the house 40 (see FIG. 1) from the smart meter 6.

The user presence determination unit 20u determines whether or not a user 3 is present near the cooking appliance 10. The process executed by the user presence determination unit 20u will be described later.

The device-side storage unit 20m stores the terminal identification information and terminal position information received by the device-side receiving unit 20r. It also stores heating device position information, which is information about the device's own position acquired by the device position information acquisition unit 20p described below.

When the cooking appliance 10 is installed in the house 40, the device location information acquisition unit 20p identifies the location where the cooking appliance 10 is located from the address of the house 40 that the user 3 directly inputs to the cooking appliance 10, and acquires the location as its own location.

Next, the mobile terminal 30 will be described. The mobile terminal 30 includes a hardware processor such as a CPU, RAM, ROM, etc., and is configured to execute various information processes based on programs and data. As a result, as shown in FIG. 2, the mobile terminal 30 functions as software modules including a terminal-side receiving unit 30r, a terminal-side display unit 30d, a terminal-side transmitting unit 30s, a terminal-side location information acquiring unit 30p, a terminal-side control unit 30c, a terminal-side memory unit 30m, and a judgment input unit 30i.

The terminal side receiver 30r receives the heating stop determination notification from the cooking appliance 10 via the router 8.

The terminal display unit 30d is a display for displaying various information. The terminal display unit 30d may function as a so-called touch panel (i.e., an operation unit). After receiving a heating stop determination notification, the terminal display unit 30d displays a heating determination input screen. As shown in Figures 8 and 9, the heating determination input screen is a screen for a user 3 who is located away from the heating cooker 10 to input a determination as to whether or not to stop heating either or both of the stove 12 and grill 14 that are currently heating. That is, in this embodiment, the terminal display unit 30d also functions as a determination input unit 30i.

The terminal side transmission unit 30s transmits the user's 3 decision on whether to stop heating either or both of the stove 12 and grill 14, which the user 3 has input on the heating decision input screen, as a user response to the cooking appliance 10 via the router 8.

The terminal location information acquisition unit 30p acquires the current location of the mobile terminal 30 using GPS (Global Positioning System).

The terminal side memory unit 30m stores a management application 30a. The management application 30a is installed on the mobile terminal 30, for example, from a server (not shown) on the Internet 100. The management application 30a is an application program for receiving various information related to the cooking appliance 10 and sending various instructions to the cooking appliance 10.

The terminal-side control unit 30c controls the operation of the mobile terminal 30 according to the instructions of the management application 30a stored in the terminal-side memory unit 30m.

The process executed by the control device 20 of the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 3. When the user 3 of the cooking device 10 turns on the power switch 10s (see FIG. 1), the process shown in FIG. 3 is started. When the user 3 turns on the power switch 10s and presses the burner switch 12s (see FIG. 1), the control device 20 starts heating the burner 12 (step S2). Note that, although the following describes a case where the burner switch 12s is pressed and heating of the burner 12 is started, the control device 20 also executes the same process when the grill switch 14s (see FIG. 1) is pressed and heating of the grill 14 is started.

When the heating of the stove 12 is started, the control device 20 receives the terminal identification information of the mobile terminal 30 of the user 3 from the mobile terminal 30 by the device side receiving unit 20r (step S3). Here, the control device 20 receives the terminal identification information of the mobile terminal 30 that is closest to the heating cooker 10 at the time when the heating start operation is executed. The control device 20 stores the received terminal identification information in the device side memory unit 20m (see FIG. 2). As a result, the control device 20 can identify the mobile terminal 30 of the user 3 who executed the heating start operation, and can transmit a heating stop determination notification to the mobile terminal 30 of the user 3. Note that the control device 20 may transmit the heating determination notification to the mobile terminal 30 identified by the terminal identification information registered in advance by the user 3, for example. In that case, the processing of step S3 may be omitted. Furthermore, the control device 20 may simultaneously transmit the heating determination notification to the mobile terminal 30 that is closest to the heating cooker 10 at the time when the heating start operation is executed and to other mobile terminals registered in advance.

Next, the control device 20 executes a user presence determination process (step S4). Here, referring to FIG. 4, the user presence determination process S4 executed by the control device 20 (i.e., the user presence determination unit 20u) of the first embodiment will be described. After acquiring the terminal identification information in step S3, the user presence determination unit 20u of the first embodiment acquires an image of the periphery of the cooking device 10 captured by the camera 4c (see FIG. 1) (step S21). Next, the user presence determination unit 20u of the first embodiment analyzes the acquired image. Specifically, the user presence determination unit 20u of the first embodiment extracts information about the user 3 from the image of the periphery of the cooking device 10 and analyzes whether the user 3 is included in the acquired image (step S23). If the image includes the user 3 (step S23: YES), the user presence determination unit 20u of the first embodiment determines that the user 3 is present in the vicinity of the cooking device 10 (step S24). If the image does not include the user 3 (step S23: NO), the user presence determination unit 20u of the first embodiment determines that the user 3 is not present near the cooking appliance 10 (step S25). In this way, the user presence determination unit 20u of the first embodiment determines whether or not the user 3 is present near the cooking appliance 10 based on the image of the periphery of the cooking appliance 10 captured by the camera 4c.

Returning to FIG. 3 again, the subsequent processing will be described. When the user presence determination processing ends in step S4 and the user presence determination unit 20u determines that a user 3 is present near the cooking appliance 10 (step S6: YES), the control device 20 repeatedly executes the user presence determination processing at a predetermined cycle. The control device 20 repeatedly executes the user presence determination processing until the heating of the stove 12 is stopped.

If the user presence determination unit 20u determines that the user 3 is not present near the cooking appliance 10 (step S6: NO), the control device 20 transmits a heating stop determination notification to the mobile device 30 of the user 3 via the device side transmission unit 20s (step S8). This allows the user 3, who is present at a distance from the cooking appliance 10, to recognize that the stove 12 is heating. Note that, as described above, in step S8, the control device 20 may transmit the heating stop determination notification to multiple mobile devices simultaneously via the device side transmission unit 20s. In addition, the control device 20 may transmit the heating stop determination notification to the mobile device 30 of the user 3 when it determines that the user 3 is not present near the cooking appliance 10 for a predetermined time.

The control device 20 starts measuring the time Ta after transmission at the same time as transmitting the heating stop determination notification (step S10). Next, the control device 20 determines whether the device side receiving unit 20r has received a user response to the heating stop determination notification (step S12). If the device side receiving unit 20r has not received a user response (step S12: NO), the control device 20 compares the time Ta after transmission with the threshold time Tth (step S18). Here, the threshold time Tth is the time at which it is determined that it is dangerous to continue heating the burner 12, and its value can be set by the user 3. In addition, the threshold time Tth may be a constant value at all times, or may be a value that changes depending on the heating amount of the burner 12. For example, the threshold time Tth may be set to be shorter as the heating amount of the burner 12 is larger, and the threshold time Tth may be set to be longer as the heating amount of the burner 12 is smaller. If the time Ta after transmission is less than the threshold time Tth (step S18: NO), the control device 20 again determines whether the device side receiving unit 20r has received a user response to the heating stop determination notification (step S12). If the time Ta after transmission exceeds the threshold time Tth (step S18: YES), the control device 20 stops the heating of the stove 12 (step S16). In this way, the control device 20 can stop the heating of the stove 12 and ensure safety when the user 3 does not notice the heating stop determination notification or when the heating stop determination notification does not reach the mobile terminal 30 normally due to an abnormality in the radio waves of the router 8 (see FIG. 1).

When the control device 20 receives a user response (step S12: YES), it determines whether the received user response includes stopping heating (step S14). When the user response does not include stopping heating (step S14: NO), the control device 20 continues heating the stove 12 and executes the user presence determination process again after a predetermined time has elapsed (step S4). In this way, if the user 3 who continued heating returns to the vicinity of the cooking appliance 10 (see FIG. 1), the control device 20 can detect this through the user presence determination process. As a result, the control device 20 can omit the process of again sending a heating stop determination notification to the mobile terminal 30.

If the user response includes stopping heating (step S14: YES), the control device 20 stops heating the burner 12 (step S16). In this way, when the control device 20 of the first embodiment determines that the user 3 is not present near the cooking appliance 10 by the user presence determination process, it sends a heating stop determination notification to the mobile terminal 30 of the user 3 and continues or stops heating the burner 12 depending on the response of the user 3. As a result, if the user 3 intentionally leaves the cooking appliance 10 and recognizes the heating of the burner 12, the user 3 can continue heating the burner 12. On the other hand, if the user 3 forgets to heat the burner 12 and leaves the cooking appliance 10, the user 3 can recognize the heating of the burner 12 again by the heating stop determination notification and stop heating the burner 12 as necessary. That is, in the heating appliance management system 2 of the first embodiment (see FIG. 1), when the control device 20 determines that the user is not present near the stove 12 during heating, the heating appliance management system 2 checks with the user 3 whether or not to stop heating the stove 12. In this way, the heating appliance management system 2 of the first embodiment can improve the convenience of the user 3 while ensuring safety when the user 3 is not present near the stove 12 during heating.

Below, the user presence determination process executed by the control device 20 in other embodiments will be described with reference to Figures 5 to 7. Note that the various user presence determination processes S4 described below are all processes executed in step S4 in Figure 3.

Second Example
With reference to FIG. 5, the user presence determination process S4 executed by the control device 20 (i.e., the user presence determination unit 20u) included in the heating device management system 2 of the second embodiment will be described. In the heating device management system 2 of the second embodiment, the heating cooker 10 is installed in the house 40 (see FIG. 1), and after the wireless communication connection with the router 8 by Wi-Fi (registered trademark) is completed, the terminal identification information of the mobile terminal 30 is first transmitted to the heating cooker 10. As a result, the terminal identification information of the mobile terminal 30 is stored in the device side storage unit 20m of the control device 20. In other words, the terminal identification information of the mobile terminal 30 is registered in the control device 20 of the heating cooker 10. This facilitates wireless communication between the registered mobile terminal 30 and the control device 20. When the control device 20 of the second embodiment registers the mobile terminal 30 in the control device 20, the device side receiving unit 20r (see FIG. 2) simultaneously receives the terminal identification information and the terminal location information. This terminal location information includes the location where the mobile terminal 30 was located at the time of registration. In the second embodiment, when registering a mobile terminal 30 to the control device 20, the device side memory unit 20m of the control device 20 stores the location of the mobile terminal 30 contained in the terminal location information received at the time of registration in association with the terminal identification information of the mobile terminal 30.

When the mobile terminal 30 is registered in the control device 20 of the cooking appliance 10, the mobile terminal 30 is located near the cooking appliance 10. Therefore, the device side storage unit 20m of the control device 20 of the second embodiment stores the position of the mobile terminal 30 stored in association with the terminal identification information of the mobile terminal 30 at the time of registration as a reference position, which is the current position of the cooking appliance 10. In addition, in the heating appliance management system 2 of the second embodiment, when the mobile terminal 30 is registered in the cooking appliance 10, a notification of the connection status between the cooking appliance 10 and the mobile terminal 30 may be sent to the mobile terminal 30. For example, if it is determined that the connection status between the cooking appliance 10 and the mobile terminal 30 is poor due to a cause such as a weak radio wave of the router 8, the mobile terminal 30 may display that the connection status is poor. This allows the user 3 to recognize that the heating stop determination notification may not be received due to a poor connection status between the cooking appliance 10 and the mobile terminal 30.

5, in the user presence determination process S4 of the second embodiment, the user presence determination unit 20u of the second embodiment first receives the terminal location information of the mobile terminal 30 from the mobile terminal 30 by the device side receiving unit 20r (step S31). The user presence determination unit 20u of the second embodiment compares the location of the mobile terminal 30 included in the received terminal location information with the location associated with the terminal identification information at the time of registration and stored (i.e., the reference location) (step S33). If the location of the mobile terminal 30 included in the received terminal location information is within a predetermined range from the reference location (step S33: YES), the user presence determination unit 20u of the second embodiment determines that the user 3 is present in the vicinity of the cooking appliance 10 (step S34). If the location of the mobile terminal 30 included in the received terminal location information is outside the predetermined range from the reference location (step S33: NO), the user presence determination unit 20u of the second embodiment determines that the user 3 is not present in the vicinity of the cooking appliance 10 (step S35). In this way, the user presence determination unit 20u of the second embodiment uses the location of the mobile terminal 30 at the time of registration of the mobile terminal 30 and the current location of the mobile terminal 30 to determine whether the user 3 is present near the cooking appliance 10.

(Third Example)
The control device 20 (i.e., the user presence determination unit 20u) of the third embodiment also executes the process shown in FIG. 5 in the same manner as in the second embodiment. Unlike the second embodiment, the device side storage unit 20m of the third embodiment stores the position of the cooking device 10 included in the device position information acquired by the device position information acquisition unit 20p of the control device 20 described above as a reference position. Therefore, in step S33 of FIG. 5, the user presence determination unit 20u of the third embodiment compares the position of the mobile terminal 30 included in the terminal position information with the position of the cooking device 10 (i.e., the reference position) by the user presence determination unit 20u. If the position of the mobile terminal 30 included in the received terminal position information is within a predetermined range from the reference position (step S33: YES), the user presence determination unit 20u of the third embodiment determines that the user 3 is present in the vicinity of the cooking device 10 (step S34). When the position of the mobile terminal 30 included in the received terminal position information is outside a predetermined range from the reference position (step S33: NO), the user presence determination unit 20u of the third embodiment determines that the user 3 is not present near the cooking appliance 10 (step S35). In this way, the user presence determination unit 20u of the third embodiment determines whether the user 3 is present near the cooking appliance 10 by using the position of the cooking appliance 10 included in the appliance position information acquired by the appliance position information acquisition unit 20p and the current position of the mobile terminal 30.

(Fourth Example)
With reference to FIG. 6, the user presence determination process S4 executed by the control device 20 (i.e., the user presence determination unit 20u) included in the heating appliance management system 2 of the fourth embodiment will be described. The user presence determination unit 20u of the fourth embodiment first determines whether the cooking appliance 10 is connected to the router 8 (step S41). The user presence determination unit 20u of the fourth embodiment transmits a connection confirmation signal to the router 8 by the appliance side transmission unit 20s. When the appliance side receiving unit 20r receives a reply from the router 8, the user presence determination unit 20u of the fourth embodiment determines that the cooking appliance 10 and the router 8 are connected. On the other hand, when the appliance side receiving unit 20r does not receive a reply from the router 8, the user presence determination unit 20u of the fourth embodiment determines that the cooking appliance 10 and the router 8 are not connected.

If the cooking appliance 10 is not wirelessly connected to the router 8 (step S41: NO), the control device 20 cannot wirelessly communicate with the mobile terminal 30 via the router 8. Therefore, the user presence determination unit 20u of the fourth embodiment directly transmits an error notification to the mobile terminal 30 according to Bluetooth (registered trademark) (step S42). As described above, the cooking appliance 10 is wirelessly connected to the router 8 according to Wi-Fi (registered trademark). Therefore, if the cooking appliance 10 is not wirelessly connected to the router 8, an abnormality may occur in the radio waves of the router 8. The user presence determination unit 20u of the fourth embodiment can notify the user 3 of the mobile terminal 30 that the router 8 may not be operating normally by directly transmitting an error notification to the mobile terminal 30 according to Bluetooth (registered trademark). Note that the user presence determination unit 20u of the fourth embodiment may display an error message indicating that the router 8 is not operating normally on the cooking appliance 10 instead of transmitting an error notification according to Bluetooth (registered trademark).

When the router 8 is operating normally and the cooking appliance 10 is wirelessly connected to the router 8 (step S41: YES), the user presence determination unit 20u of the fourth embodiment determines whether the mobile terminal 30 is wirelessly connected to the router 8 (step S43). As described above, the router 8 transmits radio waves within a predetermined area and wirelessly connects to the mobile terminal 30 that receives the radio waves. Therefore, when the mobile terminal 30 does not receive radio waves from the router 8 and is not wirelessly connected to the router 8 (step S43: NO), it is considered that the mobile terminal 30 has moved, for example, outside the house 40. Therefore, in such a case, the user presence determination unit 20u of the fourth embodiment determines that the user 3 is not present in the vicinity of the cooking appliance 10 (step S45). On the other hand, when the mobile terminal 30 receives radio waves from the router 8 and is wirelessly connected to the router 8 (step S43: YES), the user presence determination unit 20u of the fourth embodiment determines that the user 3 is present in the vicinity of the cooking appliance 10 (step S44). In this way, the user presence determination unit 20u in the fourth embodiment determines whether or not the user 3 is present near the cooking appliance 10 based on the connection status between the router 8 and the mobile terminal 30.

Fifth Example
With reference to FIG. 7, the user presence determination process S4 executed by the control device 20 (i.e., the user presence determination unit 20u) included in the heating appliance management system 2 of the fifth embodiment will be described. The user presence determination unit 20u of the fifth embodiment receives the consumed electricity amount Eu, which is the current electricity consumption amount in the house 40, from the smart meter 6 (see FIG. 1) by the appliance side receiving unit 20r (step S51). The user presence determination unit 20u of the fifth embodiment compares the consumed electricity amount Eu with the consumed electricity amount threshold Eth (step S53). Here, the consumed electricity amount threshold Eth is the total electricity consumption amount of the electrical appliances that are always operating and are arranged in the house 40. If the electricity consumed in the house 40 (see FIG. 1) exceeds the consumed electricity amount threshold Eth (step S53: YES), it is estimated that the user 3 is using other electrical appliances and that the user 3 is present in the house 40. That is, in such a case, the user presence determination unit 20u of the fifth embodiment determines that the user 3 is present near the cooking appliance 10 (step S54). On the other hand, if the consumed electricity amount Eu is smaller than the consumed electricity amount threshold Eth (step S53: NO), it is estimated that the user 3 is not using other electrical appliances and is not present in the house 40. In such a case, the user presence determination unit 20u of the fifth embodiment determines that the user 3 is not present near the cooking appliance 10 (step S55). In this way, the user presence determination unit 20u of the fifth embodiment determines whether the user 3 is present near the cooking appliance 10 based on the current consumed electricity amount Eu measured by the smart meter 6.

With reference to Figures 8 and 9, the heating stop judgment screen displayed by the mobile terminal 30 that has received the heating stop judgment notification will be described. In step S8 of Figure 3, when the control device 20 (see Figure 2) transmits the heating stop judgment notification to the mobile terminal 30 by the device side transmission unit 20s, the mobile terminal 30 that has received the heating stop judgment notification by the terminal side reception unit 30r displays the heating stop judgment screen shown in Figure 8 by the terminal side display unit 30d. As shown in Figure 8, the heating stop judgment screen displays that the burner 12 (see Figure 1) is currently heating. This allows the user 3 (see Figure 1) who is in a location away from the heating cooker 10 (see Figure 1) to recognize again that the burner 12 is currently heating if he or she has forgotten that the burner 12 is currently heating. When the user 3 who has recognized again that the burner 12 is currently heating selects the heating stop switch 32s, a user response including the heating stop of the burner 12 is transmitted to the control device 20 by the terminal side transmission unit 30s (see Figure 2). As a result, as described with reference to FIG. 3, the control device 20 stops heating the stove 12.

If user 3 again recognizes that burner 12 is currently heating and decides to continue heating burner 12, he or she selects continue heating switch 32c. User 3 also selects continue heating switch 32c if user 3 has intentionally left cooking appliance 10 temporarily and recognized that burner 12 is heating. In these cases, terminal-side transmission unit 30s transmits a user response including a command to continue heating burner 12 to control device 20. As a result, control device 20 continues heating burner 12 as described with reference to FIG. 3.

As shown in FIG. 8, the heating stop judgment screen may also include a re-notification switch 32r. When the user 3 selects the re-notification switch 32r, in addition to continuing heating the stove 12, a user response including a request for re-notification is sent to the control device 20 by the terminal side transmission unit 30s (see FIG. 2). As a result, the control device 20 continues heating the stove 12, and again sends a heating stop judgment notification to the mobile terminal 30 after, for example, one minute as shown in FIG. 8. In this way, by specifying the time to send the heating stop judgment notification again when a heating stop judgment notification has been received, the user 3 can change the timing to stop heating the stove 12. Note that the time to send the re-notification may be changeable by the user 3 each time a heating stop judgment notification is received, or may be a fixed value.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 9, the heating stop judgment screen may include a heating stop time 32t. When the heating stop judgment screen of FIG. 9 is displayed, the user 3 selects the heating continuation switch 32c in the same manner as in the heating stop judgment screen of FIG. 8 if the heating is to be continued. On the other hand, if the heating is to be stopped, the user 3 does not operate the mobile terminal 30. As a result, the mobile terminal 30 transmits a user response including a heating stop to the control device 20 after 30 seconds have elapsed by the terminal side transmission unit 30s (see FIG. 2). As a result, the heating of the stove 12 is stopped. In other words, the user response also includes the user 3 not operating the mobile terminal 30. The heating stop judgment screen of FIG. 9 may further include a heating stop switch 32s. Also, the heating stop time 32t may be changeable by the user 3.

(Sixth Example)
The heating appliance management system 2a of the sixth embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 10 and Fig. 11. As shown in Fig. 10, the heating appliance management system 2a of the sixth embodiment includes a cooking appliance 10a and a mobile terminal 300. The cooking appliance 10a includes a control device 200. The cooking appliance 10 included in the heating appliance management system 2 of the first embodiment and the cooking appliance 10a included in the heating appliance management system 2a of the sixth embodiment are different only in the configuration of the control device, and the other configurations are similar. Unlike the control device 20, the control device 200 does not include a user presence determination unit 20u (see Fig. 2). That is, the control device 200 of the heating appliance management system 2a of the sixth embodiment does not execute a user presence determination process.

In the heating appliance management system 2a of the sixth embodiment, the mobile terminal 300 functions as a software module, including the terminal side receiving unit 30r and the like described with reference to FIG. 2, as well as the user presence determination unit 30u. That is, in the heating appliance management system 2a of the sixth embodiment, the user presence determination process is executed by the mobile terminal 300. Note that the mobile terminal 30 provided in the heating appliance management system 2 of the first embodiment and the mobile terminal 300 provided in the heating appliance management system 2a of the sixth embodiment differ only in their function as the user presence determination unit 30u, and the other functions are the same.

With reference to FIG. 11, the process executed by the mobile terminal 300 (see FIG. 10) will be described. In the heating appliance management system 2a of the sixth embodiment, the terminal identification information of the mobile terminal 300 has been registered in advance in the cooking appliance 10a. When heating is started on the stove 12 (see FIG. 1) of the cooking appliance 10a, the control device 200 of the cooking appliance 10a transmits heating-in-progress information to the mobile terminal 300 identified by the terminal identification information registered by the appliance-side transmitting unit 20s. The mobile terminal 300 receives the heating-in-progress information from the cooking appliance 10a via the terminal-side receiving unit 30r (step S62). Upon receiving the heating-in-progress information, the user presence determining unit 30u of the mobile terminal 300 executes a user presence determining process (step S64).

After receiving the heating information in step S62, the user presence determination unit 30u of the mobile terminal 300 executes the user presence determination process S4 shown in FIG. 7, for example. In this case, the user presence determination unit 30u of the mobile terminal 300 receives the consumed electricity amount Eu from the smart meter 6 via the router 8 (see FIG. 2) by the terminal side receiving unit 30r (step S51). The user presence determination unit 30u of the mobile terminal 300 compares the received consumed electricity amount Eu with the consumed electricity amount threshold value Eth (step S53). As with the user presence determination unit 20u of the fifth embodiment, when the consumed electricity amount Eu is greater than the consumed electricity amount threshold value Eth (step S53: YES), the user presence determination unit 30u of the mobile terminal 300 determines that the user 3 is present in the vicinity of the cooking device 10a (step S54). On the other hand, if the amount of electricity consumed Eu is smaller than the electricity consumption threshold Eth (step S53: NO), the user presence determination unit 30u of the mobile terminal 300 determines that the user 3 is not present near the cooking appliance 10a (step S55).

When it is determined in the user presence determination process executed in step S64 that the user 3 is present in the vicinity of the cooking appliance 10a (see FIG. 10) (step S66: YES), the user presence determination unit 30u determines whether the terminal side receiving unit 30r (see FIG. 10) has received heating stop information from the cooking appliance 10a (step S67). Here, the heating stop information is information transmitted from the cooking appliance 10a to the mobile terminal 300 when the user 3 stops heating the stove 12. When the terminal side receiving unit 30r has received the heating stop information (step S67: YES), the user presence determination unit 30u ends the process. When the terminal side receiving unit 30r has not received the heating stop information (step S67: NO), the user presence determination unit 30u executes the user presence determination process again after a predetermined time has elapsed (step S64). The user presence determination unit 30u repeatedly executes the user presence determination process at a predetermined cycle until the heating of the stove 12 is stopped.

If it is determined that the user 3 is not present in the vicinity of the cooking appliance 10a (see FIG. 10) (step S66: NO), the mobile device 300 displays the heating stop judgment input screen described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9 on the terminal display unit 30d (see FIG. 10) (step S68). When the user 3 inputs a user response on the heating stop judgment input screen, the mobile device 300 transmits the user response to the control device 200 via the terminal transmission unit 30s (step S70). The control device 200 that receives the user response controls the stove 12 based on the instruction to stop or continue heating included in the user response, as described with reference to FIG. 3.

(Correspondence) The pot 16 and the food being cooked in the grill 14 are an example of an "object to be heated." The cooking device 10a is an example of a "heating device," and the stove 12 and grill 14 are an example of a "heating unit." The router 8 is an example of a "connection device." The smart meter 6 is an example of a "consumption information measuring device." The amount of electricity consumed Eu is an example of "consumption information."

Although the embodiments have been described in detail above, these are merely examples and do not limit the scope of the claims. The technology described in the claims includes various modifications and variations of the specific examples given above. Modifications of the above-mentioned embodiments are listed below.

(Variation 1) In the above-described embodiment, it is determined whether or not a user 3 is present near the cooking appliance 10, and if the user 3 is not present near the cooking appliance 10, the stove 12 or grill 14 of the cooking appliance 10 is controlled by the user 3's mobile terminal. Alternatively, in a variation, the "heating appliance" may be, for example, a gas fan heater. In that case, the "object to be heated" is the air in the room in which the gas fan heater is located. The technology disclosed in this specification can also be applied to a heating appliance management system that controls a gas fan heater by the user's mobile terminal when it is determined that the user is not present near the gas fan heater.

(Variation 2) In the heating appliance management system 2 of the first embodiment, whether or not the user 3 is present near the heating cooker 10 is determined based on an image of the area around the heating cooker 10 captured by the camera 4c. However, in the variation, this is not limited to this, and for example, whether or not the user 3 is present near the heating cooker 10 may be determined by a human presence sensor that uses infrared rays.

(Variation 3) In the heating appliance management system 2 of the first embodiment, in step S18, if the time Ta after transmission exceeds the threshold time Tth (step S18: YES), the heating of the stove 12 is stopped. However, in the variation, this is not limited to this, and for example, if the time Ta after transmission exceeds the threshold time Tth (step S18: YES), the process may return to step S8 and send the heating stop determination notification again.

(Variation 4) In the heating appliance management system 2 described above, the position of the portable terminal 30 at the time the portable terminal 30 was registered to the cooking appliance 10 and the position of the cooking appliance 10 directly input by the user 3 to the cooking appliance 10 are set as a "reference position" and compared with the position of the portable terminal 30. Alternatively, in a variation, the appliance position information acquisition unit 20p may acquire the current position of the cooking appliance 10 by GPS. In that case, the user presence determination unit 20u may set the position of the cooking appliance 10 acquired by GPS as a "reference position" and determine whether the user 3 is present in the vicinity of the cooking appliance 10 by comparing the reference position with the position of the portable terminal 30.

(Variation 5) In the heating appliance management system 2 described above, the user 3 inputs a decision as to whether or not to stop heating the burner 12 using the heating stop decision screen displayed on the mobile device 30 by the terminal display unit 30d. Alternatively, in a variation, for example, the mobile device 30 that has received a heating stop decision notification may ask the user 3 by voice via the decision input unit 30i whether or not to stop heating the burner 12. In that case, the user 3 may input a decision as to whether or not to stop heating the burner 12 by responding by voice to the question from the mobile device 30.

(Modification 6) In the heating appliance management system 2 of the fifth embodiment described above, the user presence determination unit 20u obtains the amount of consumed electricity Eu from the smart meter 6 and compares it with the consumed electricity threshold Eth to determine whether the user 3 is in the vicinity of the cooking appliance 10. In a modification, instead of this, the user presence determination unit 20u may obtain the amount of consumed gas in the house 40 from the smart meter 6 and compare it with the consumed gas threshold to determine whether the user 3 is in the vicinity of the cooking appliance 10. In this case, the consumed gas threshold may be a value obtained by adding the amount of consumed gas of the stove 12 and the grill 14 to the amount of consumed gas of other gas appliances that are constantly operating and arranged in the house 40. In addition, the user presence determination unit 20u may obtain the amount of consumed water Wu from the smart meter 6 and compare it with the consumed water threshold Wth to determine whether the user 3 is in the vicinity of the cooking appliance 10.

(Variation 7) The user presence determination unit 30u provided in the heating appliance management system 2a of the sixth embodiment determines whether or not the user 3 is present near the cooking appliance 10a by executing the user presence determination process S4 shown in FIG. 7. Alternatively, in a variation, for example, the mobile terminal 300 may acquire an image from the camera 4c and execute the user presence determination process S4 shown in FIG. 4. The mobile terminal 300 may also acquire appliance position information from the cooking appliance 10a and execute the user presence determination process S4 shown in FIG. 5.

(Variation 8) The cooking appliances 10 and 10a in the above-described embodiment are built-in gas-burning stoves that are incorporated into a system kitchen. Alternatively, in a variation, they may be electromagnetic induction cooking appliances (IH cooking appliances).

Although specific examples of the present invention have been described above in detail, these are merely examples and do not limit the scope of the claims. The technology described in the claims includes various modifications and variations of the specific examples exemplified above. The technical elements described in this specification or drawings exert technical utility alone or in various combinations, and are not limited to the combinations described in the claims at the time of filing. Furthermore, the technology exemplified in this specification or drawings can achieve multiple objectives simultaneously, and achieving one of those objectives is itself technically useful.

2, 2a: Heating appliance management system 3: User 4: Range hood 4c: Camera 6: Smart meter 8: Router 10, 10a: Cooking appliance 10s: Power switch 12: Stove 12s: Stove switch 14: Grill 14s: Grill switch 16: Pot 20, 200: Control device 20c: Appliance control unit 20m: Appliance memory unit 20p: Appliance location information acquisition unit 20r: Appliance receiving unit 20s: Appliance transmitting unit 20u, 30u: User presence determination unit 30, 300: Mobile terminal 30a: Management application 30c: Terminal control unit 30d: Terminal display unit 30m: Terminal memory unit 30p: Terminal location information acquisition unit 30r: Terminal receiving unit 30s: Terminal transmitting unit 40: House 100: Internet

Claims (9)

A heating appliance management system including a heating appliance operated by a user and an external terminal configured to be able to communicate with the heating appliance and having a display unit ,
The heating device includes:
A heating unit that heats the object to be heated;
An equipment side control unit that controls the heating unit;
a device-side transmitting unit that transmits information about the heating unit to the external terminal of the user;
an apparatus side receiving unit that receives a response from the user to information regarding the heating unit from the external terminal;
a user presence determination unit that determines whether the user is present near the heating appliance;
Equipped with
the device-side transmission unit transmits, when the user presence determination unit determines that the user is not present near the heating device during heating by the heating unit, a heating stop determination notification for the user to determine whether or not to stop heating by the heating unit to the external terminal;
The external terminal includes:
A terminal side receiving unit that receives the heating stop determination notification from the heating appliance;
a display control unit that displays a heating stop judgment screen on the display unit when the terminal side receiving unit receives the heating stop judgment notification, the heating stop judgment screen including a stop response image that receives a judgment from the user to stop heating of the heating unit, and a continuation response image that receives a judgment from the user to continue heating of the heating unit;
a judgment input unit that, when the display control unit displays the heating stop judgment screen on the display unit, allows the user to input a judgment as to whether or not to stop heating of the heating unit via the heating stop judgment screen displayed on the display unit ;
a terminal side transmitting unit that transmits the user's decision on whether or not to stop heating the heating unit, which is input to the decision input unit, to the heating device as a response from the user;
Equipped with
The device side control unit
When the response by the user received by the device side receiving unit from the external terminal includes a determination to stop heating of the heating unit, stopping heating of the heating unit;
A heating device management system that continues heating of the heating unit when the response from the user received by the device side receiving unit from the external terminal includes a determination to continue heating of the heating unit. The heating device management system according to claim 1, wherein the device-side control unit stops heating of the heating unit when the device-side receiving unit does not receive a response from the user even after a predetermined threshold time has elapsed after the device-side transmitting unit transmits the heating stop determination notification to the external terminal. The external terminal further includes a terminal location information acquisition unit that acquires terminal location information that is information regarding a current location of the external terminal,
The terminal side transmission unit is capable of transmitting the terminal location information acquired by the terminal location information acquisition unit to the heating appliance,
the device-side receiving unit is capable of receiving the terminal location information transmitted by the terminal-side transmitting unit,
The heating equipment management system of claim 1 or 2, wherein the user presence determination unit determines whether the user is present in the vicinity of the heating equipment by comparing the position of the external terminal contained in the terminal position information received by the equipment side receiving unit with a reference position which is the current position of the heating equipment. The terminal side transmission unit is capable of transmitting terminal identification information, which is information for identifying the external terminal of the user, to the heating appliance,
the device-side receiving unit is capable of receiving the terminal identification information transmitted by the terminal-side transmitting unit,
The heating device includes:
a device-side storage unit that stores the terminal identification information received from the external terminal, and stores the location of the external terminal included in the terminal location information received from the external terminal at the time when the terminal identification information is stored, in association with the terminal identification information;
The heating device management system according to claim 3 , wherein the user presence determination unit sets the reference position by using a position of the external terminal stored in association with the terminal identification information. The heating device further includes a device position information acquisition unit that acquires device position information that is information regarding the heating device's own position,
The heating device management system according to claim 3 , wherein the user presence determination unit sets the position of the heating device included in the device position information acquired by the device position information acquisition unit to the reference position. the external terminal is a connection device capable of wirelessly connecting with a plurality of devices arranged within a predetermined area, and is configured to be capable of wirelessly connecting with a connection device that is wirelessly connected with the heating device,
The user presence determination unit
When the heating appliance is wirelessly connected to the connection device and the external terminal is wirelessly connected to the connection device, it is determined that the user is present in the vicinity of the heating appliance;
The heating equipment management system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein when the heating equipment is wirelessly connected to the connection device and the external terminal is not wirelessly connected to the connection device, it is determined that the user is not present in the vicinity of the heating equipment. The heating appliance is capable of communicating with a consumption information measuring device that measures consumption information, which is information regarding current energy consumption in a residence in which the heating appliance is installed;
the device-side receiving unit is further capable of receiving the consumption information measured by the consumption information measuring device from the consumption information measuring device,
The heating appliance management system according to claim 1 , wherein the user presence determination unit determines whether or not the user is present near the heating appliance based on the consumption information received by the appliance side receiving unit. A computer program for an external terminal having a display unit, the computer program being configured to be capable of communicating with a heating appliance operated by a user,
The heating device includes:
A heating unit that heats the object to be heated;
An equipment side control unit that controls the heating unit;
a device-side transmitting unit that transmits heating information indicating that the heating unit is heating to the external terminal of the user;
A device side receiving unit that receives a response from the user to the heating information from the external terminal;
Equipped with
The computer program comprises:
The external terminal,
a terminal-side receiving unit that receives the heating-on-demand information from the device-side transmitting unit;
a user presence determination unit that determines whether the user is present near the heating appliance;
a display control unit that displays a heating stop judgment screen on the display unit when the terminal side receiving unit receives the heating in progress information and the user presence judgment unit judges that the user is not present near the heating appliance, the display control unit including a stop response image that accepts a judgment from the user to stop heating of the heating unit and a continuation response image that accepts a judgment from the user to continue heating of the heating unit;
a judgment input unit that, when the display control unit displays the heating stop judgment screen on the display unit, allows the user to input a judgment as to whether or not to stop heating of the heating unit via the heating stop judgment screen displayed on the display unit ;
a terminal side transmitting unit that transmits the user's decision on whether or not to stop heating the heating unit, which is input to the decision input unit, to the heating device as a response from the user;
Function as a
The device side control unit
When the response by the user received by the device side receiving unit from the external terminal includes a determination to stop heating of the heating unit, stopping heating of the heating unit;
A computer program that continues heating of the heating unit when the response from the user received by the device side receiving unit from the external terminal includes a determination to continue heating of the heating unit. the external terminal is capable of communicating with a consumption information measuring device that measures consumption information which is information regarding current energy consumption in a residence in which the heating appliance is installed,
the terminal side receiving unit further receives the consumption information measured by the consumption information measuring device from the consumption information measuring device,
The computer program product according to claim 8 , wherein the user presence determination unit determines whether or not the user is present near the heating appliance based on the consumption information received by the terminal side receiving unit.

Images